Normally, when I go to games, for financial reasons, I get seats in the upper level. But for Alex Semin’s first game back in a non-Capitals uniform (a few years ago), I wanted to sit close, so I sprung for lower level tickets, row C, by the faceoff circle of the Caps-shoot-twice end, on the penalty-box side. With 30 seconds left in the game, the Caps held a 3-0 lead. Most of the fans were packing up their belongings, not paying close attention to the game. Suddenly (and I’m still not sure how this happened), the puck came over the glass fast, and hit an approximately 12-year-old boy sitting in front if me. He was woozy, his mother was (understandably) freaking out, and myself and others nearby were trying to get the attention of ushers/Verizon Center medical staff.

Jason Chimera was on the ice when this happened. He looked in our direction, obviously concerned about the boy. He then skated over to the bench, got a towel from the trainers, skated back over to us, and threw the towel over the wall for the boy. A minute later, when the game was over, Chimera skated back over and handed his game stick over the glass for the boy. Right behind him was Captain America John Carlson doing the same thing. While it wasn’t cool that the kid took a puck to the head, it was awesome to see the reaction of the players, going far beyond what was expected of them.

This has nothing to do with tonight’s game, but when teams I root for are doing poorly, I find I feel better when I remember that the team is made of a lot of good people who do good things, and that while winning sportsball matches are nice, they aren’t important.